Cleveland was lit up in January 2014 for a tour by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

A large vacuum chamber used to test propulsion thrusters at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland was lit up in January 2014 for a tour by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

By Brent Larkin, cleveland.com Email the author 
on December 11, 2015 at 7:15 AM, updated December 14, 2015 at 7:01 AM

Congress might cut tens of millions of dollars from NASA Glenn budget

The Senate wants to use the money for a NASA program in Maryland.

"It's just so shortsighted," former Sen. John Glenn told me Wednesday about proposed spending cuts to the center that bears his name. "The greatness of America is based on its investments in education and research. By learning the new and the unknown, we leapt ahead of everyone in the world. And this [NASA Glenn] is one of the world's foremost research laboratories. It's engaged in scientific breakthroughs that impact all of our lives."

Glenn is now 94. His wife, Annie, is nearing 96. They're not in ideal health. But the case Glenn makes for investment in research is as powerful and persuasive today as it was when he first began making it more than 60 years ago.

It's long been obvious that not enough people in Washington heed that message. Most fire drills last only a few minutes. The one at NASA Glenn is now deep into its third decade.

Those alarms are now ringing as loud as ever, as Congress considers a budget proposal to reduce NASA Glenn's 2016 budget by $60 million. 

Two of the U.S. Senate's most powerful appropriators, Alabama Republican Richard Shelby and Maryland Democrat Barbara Mikulski, want to shift money away from NASA Glenn to a project in Maryland designed to refuel orbiting satellites that face extinction.

Shelby, whose state is home to NASA's gigantic Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, has been trying to pry dollars away from the Cleveland and Brook Park location since at least 1991.

Ohio politicians need to have NASA Glenn's back: editorial

Ohio's congressional delegation and aviation businesses need to work aggressively to head off cuts to NASA Glenn Research Center, in jeopardy of losing up to 10 percent of its funding in the next federal budget, the editorial board writes.

Ohio's three powerful congressional cardinals in the House -- downstate Republicans Dave Hobson and Ralph Regula, along with Democrat Louis Stokes -- were usually able to beat back those attempts.

At times, former Sen. Mike DeWine and former Rep. Steve LaTourette also played important roles in sparing Glenn from budget cuts. In 1998, DeWine even engineered passage of the bill that changed the center's name from Lewis to Glenn.

But retirements and population losses have cost Ohio much of its congressional clout. In the House, no one from Northeast Ohio enjoys the power of a Stokes or LaTourette. Sen. Sherrod Brown is not without influence, but as a Democrat, he's a minority member.

So the responsibility for preserving Glenn's budget falls disproportionally on Republican Sen. Rob Portman. And how this is resolved will answer a fair number of questions about Portman's power and leadership skills.

The stakes could not be higher.

"If this happens, the whole Northeast Ohio economy takes a hit," said Brook Park Mayor Tom Coyne, whose city is struggling to survive with a Ford Motor Co. workforce that has shrunk from more than 15,000 employees in the 1970s to fewer than 2,000 today.

Greater Cleveland's business community seems to have a far better grasp of Glenn's importance to the region than most of its political leaders. Greater Cleveland Partnership CEO Joe Roman can recite a number of NASA collaborations that have produced real-life benefits for area hospitals, businesses and universities.

NASA Glenn, CWRU team up to commercialize groundbreaking water purification technology

NASA Glenn Research Center has developed a water-purification treatment that kills bacteria and removes other harmful elements from water. Case Western Reserve University graduate students are working to implement and market the technology.

Roman called NASA Glenn "an icon of research," adding, "We would do almost anything to attract NASA Glenn to this region if it were up for bid, but it's ours, thankfully. And we have to treat the facility as the gem it truly is. That means all of us." 

That gem is home to more than 1,600 employees and 1,500 private contract workers. In a region with gigantic brain-drain problems, its workforce is one of the best-educated on the planet. Two-thirds of the 1,100 scientists and engineers who work there have advanced degrees. One in four has a Ph.D.

These aren't apples-to-apples comparisons, but they make my point:

The annual economic impact the Browns have on the region is estimated at about $79 million.

The Republican National Convention will generate about $200 million in economic activity.

A Cleveland State University study in 2012 concluded NASA Glenn is responsible for $1.2 billion in annual economic activity.

We mortgaged our future to get back the Browns. We promised Republicans the moon for their 90-hour convention.

All three involve tax dollars, but there the similarities end.

In terms of importance, there's simply no comparison among the three.

It's too bad so many people haven't figured that out.

Brent Larkin was The Plain Dealer's editorial director from 1991 until his retirement in 2009.

To reach Brent Larkin: blarkin@cleveland.com

This was updated at 8:03 am to correct spelling of Dave Hobson's last name.